Bunny Hop hair problems

[C-Puff]

Hey guys, me again.
I'm still in the process of cleaning all my ponies (almost done) But I found something distressing today.

I was busy cleaning my Bunny Hop (using pantene conditioner and dishwashing soap for her body like I do with all my ponies) when I noticed the pink parts of her hair were breaking off in my hands even though I was not being rough with her!

I got her second hand when I was about 13 or 14 (when I started collecting ponies as a hobby and not just as toys to play with) and she came to me in rough shape to start with. Her hat is broken off and she no longer has her rabbit either. On top of this the pink of her hair had been cut but was still really frizzy on the ends. She's been sitting on a shelf for a few years now what with life and whatever and I'm just cleaning her now with the rest of my ponies.

I haven't had this happen with any of my other ponies at all! Not even my Wave Runner who also has terrible frizz in her hair.

The purple of her hair is perfectly fine and has no frizz or roughness to it. it's literally only the pink which is just break off by the hand-full just from being handled.
I'm pretty certain all I can do is leave her alone and try to rehair her at some point in the future (if I can get her head off without damaging her which I'm still afraid of doing)

What I want to know is, is this a common problem with the pocket ponies or with that particular brand of pink hair? Does it have something to do with the later run ponies? Did Hasbro switch quality at some point? (Like they have with the G4s for instance)? Have you guys heard of this happening before? And lastly, what could have caused this in the first place? I have not done anything drastic to her hair at all since I've had her. No heat treatment or anything like that, so I can only guess it must have been her previous owner (most likely a little girl since collecting isn't really a thing here.)

Does anyone have any insight? This is really really strange to me and I have no idea why it would happen.
Thanks as always!

[Leave a Whisper]

I don't know if this is a common problem with the Precious Pocket ponies, but I do own Bunny Hop and my girl's hair is silky and lush.

You mentioned that yours wasn't in good shape when you got her. Perhaps the previous owner did something that damaged the pink hair? Maybe they used harsh chemicals trying to treat her for something and the pink reacted badly.

I have heard of some G3 ponies whose hair broke off and kinda disintegrated, other then Tea Lily I don't remember who the rest were.

You can always rehair or have someone rehair.

[daisyd]

Oh that's sad  The only ponies I've had trouble with breaking hair are a couple of my Mexi girls, and one or two cheapo fakies. Seconding the fact that the hair may have been given a treatment that made it more brittle - as far as I remember (most of my ponies are in storage) all my pocket ponies have nice hair still.

[reanna-mator]

I don't know if this is a common problem with the Precious Pocket ponies, but I do own Bunny Hop and my girl's hair is silky and lush.

You mentioned that yours wasn't in good shape when you got her. Perhaps the previous owner did something that damaged the pink hair? Maybe they used harsh chemicals trying to treat her for something and the pink reacted badly.

I have heard of some G3 ponies whose hair broke off and kinda disintegrated, other then Tea Lily I don't remember who the rest were.

Yes! I just got a Tea Lily and her hair started breaking off when I washed it. Specifically it came out of her mane at the spot where it was rooted, but it also seems rather brittle in general.

You could always rehair the spots. If you want to go for it, Dollyhair's "pussycat" color should be a match for her pink streak. http://www.dollyhair.com/mlpnylonhair.htm

[sd_dreamcrystal]

It could be that her hair is breaking due to a combo of age and play from previous owners. It's a brittle hair condition that sometimes happens when the hair is exposed to certain elements over time, or just age (but age doesn't sound like the case here).

I've only had McDonald's Ponies do this to me and that was a quality of hair case.

[reanna-mator]

It could be that her hair is breaking due to a combo of age and play from previous owners. It's a brittle hair condition that sometimes happens when the hair is exposed to certain elements over time, or just age (but age doesn't sound like the case here).

I've only had McDonald's Ponies do this to me and that was a quality of hair case.

I think it really is a combination of things. Non Pony related, I had a really pretty Cardcaptor Sakura doll with rooted hair. I always treated her gently, didn't really play with her, then one day as I was taking her out of a box, her hair just fell out as I handled it. I think in that case it might have even been the glue holding the hair in had deteriorated?

Man that made me sad. Bright side is, now that I know how to rehair, maybe I can give her some new hair one day.

[C-Puff]

Thanks so much for all the help, guys! It really helps a lot. I was very worried that this might be a problem I'd have to worry about for my other ponies ;__; I'm glad to hear that's not the case it seems.

I'm once again really worried of trying to remove a pony head on my own (I severely damaged my childhood Star Hopper trying to remove her dislodged washer). I will have to either find a way to reroot her myself somehow, or have sent to someone who could do it for me which might be the better option.

I'm not sure how I would do that since I don't live in America and our postal system is one of the worst in the world. I may try and risk sending her to someone since, as I said, she is luckily not a childhood pony. Otherwise I'll have to try and sort something out when I'm in the States again.

Anyway, thanks again guys! At least I'm not as worried about my other ponies though even if none of us know what would make the hair do this

[BlushingBlue]

I can't say for 100% certain that it's the cause of your issue, but your instincts are correct, Hasbro got a little loose with their quality control in MLP's later years. Precious Pockets in particular are somewhat notorious for having "non-standard" hair.

Long story short, there seem to be three different kinds of light pink hair that were used for them: straight fading pink, curly fading pink, and straight non-fading pink. The straight hair types are high-quality silky nylon, but the curly hair is often unusually coarse, dry, and prone to frizzing and breaking. I suspect that your Bunny Hop was rooted with the latter kind of hair, and years of hard living have made it especially brittle.

If you're nervous about taking her head off, and her hair is coming out by the handful anyway, you could just rip out the old pink and tension reroot with new hair. As long as there isn't a ton of glue inside that's stopping you from poking any stubborn straggly bits back into the pony, you wouldn't have to remove her head. Although, long term, gaining confidence in beheading your ponies is a worthwhile endeavor. So many issues that crop up with ponies are easier to solve if you can take them apart. Try practicing on some baits or fakies until you get the hang of it.

[reanna-mator]

Thanks so much for all the help, guys! It really helps a lot. I was very worried that this might be a problem I'd have to worry about for my other ponies ;__; I'm glad to hear that's not the case it seems.

I'm once again really worried of trying to remove a pony head on my own (I severely damaged my childhood Star Hopper trying to remove her dislodged washer). I will have to either find a way to reroot her myself somehow, or have sent to someone who could do it for me which might be the better option.

I'm not sure how I would do that since I don't live in America and our postal system is one of the worst in the world. I may try and risk sending her to someone since, as I said, she is luckily not a childhood pony. Otherwise I'll have to try and sort something out when I'm in the States again.

Anyway, thanks again guys! At least I'm not as worried about my other ponies though even if none of us know what would make the hair do this

Pony rehairing isn't too tough once you get the hang of it. I'd love to do it for you if the cost of shipping was more reasonable, especially since I think I have some of that color in my Pony First Aid Kit(TM). There are ways to reroot pony hair without removing the head I believe, but I've always gone with the method which does, so I'm not a pro there. Good luck!

[Taffeta]

Pocket Friends (Precious Pocket) ponies come from a release year with a lot of variations in the quality of hair fibre being used. Because some of them have pink hair sections in poorer quality as an actual release, they can become frizzed and damaged. I haven't heard of one breaking, but the poorer quality hair are most prevalently found in European countries.

I can't be 100% but I seem to remember another S.A resident collector from years ago saying that a lot of S.A pony release later on was similar to what we had in Europe, I certainly know of some S.A found pony items on what we would consider UK or European style cards. It's possible that your Hopping Pocket/Bunny Hop is one of those.

[C-Puff]

Ah really? I wondered if maybe the release year could mean something for the quality. But beyond that, yes. Here in South Africa, apart from Nirvana ponies obviously, we tended to get the UK ponies as most of our imports are from there. Especially during the 80s. This is why it's reletively easy to get UK ponies here. (I have several I simply got froms friends who had them as childhood ponies like Tutti Frutti, Newborn Stargazer and I myself had baby Berrytown as a kid)

So if the European Pocket ponies are known to have questionable quality with their hair its totally possible that that is a batch this girl came from.

That's a good idea trying to rehair her without removing her head I might try that and see if its possible.

it's a pity there aren't any sort of "pony restoration" workshops I could attend like "this is how you rehair." etc etc.

[Sweet_Stuff]

I don't collect the pocket ponies, well really most of the later G1 years.. and am curious to read about this.. though I am sorry that happened to your pony.. 

[Taffeta]

This is a different member of the same set but it is the only one I have a comparison for just to show the difference. I can't say 100% that it's a North AMerican/European divide but just that there are more poorer quality ones in the European market. There are a lot of ponies in this year release with hair variations though. Most all of the sets sold worldwide during this year have at least one pony with a hair (or body, actually) variation. This is the same year as blue/purple differences in Starbow and Pretty Beat's hair, orange/red in Tuneful's, many Glowing Magic variations and the quality of hair issue occurs in Teeny Weeny ponies, Rainbow Babies, Pocket Friends...so yeah. Dunno what Hasbro were thinking during this year, but I don't think it was quality control...

http://www.etherella.com/scrapbook2/singing_pocket.htm

[Starfall]

Sadly mine got lost in a move, but I distinctly remember my Bunny Hop, bought new in the UK had straight purple and wavy fading pink in her mane.  I'd always put my ponies away nicely brushed, but Bunny Hop's pink hair was perpetually really manky and tangled upon getting her out again.  Very similiar to my late independent toy shop release Rosedust, who had a short, straight silky non-fading pink tail, and a curly fading pink mane of terror.